Need advice about selling hatching eggs

[rnorris1234]

Hi, I need some advice from some experienced chicken keepers.
Last week I sold some eggs to a lady. I had them on auction, but she said she wanted to drive to pick them up (drove a long way) because she did not want shipped eggs. I told her that would be fine. Today I get an email that 6 of the 12 eggs have blood rings and didn't develop properly. (Now, I would NEVER intentionally sell anyone a bad egg). It is my understanding that a blood ring means that the eggs was indeed fertile, but stopped developing at an early stage. Correct? I occasionally have an egg with a blood ring, but my hatch rate has been at least 90% and I have been hatching these same eggs for months now.
I wrote to her and told her that I was sorry and that I would be glad to send her replacement eggs if she would pay for shipping. She returns the email and says she does not believe that she should have to pay for the shipping.
I am not in any of this to actually make any money, but I sell eggs and chicks to help defer the cost of feed, etc.

What would you do, or have done, (or expect done if you lost eggs that you bought). Should i just cough up the $8 or $9 and ship her the eggs?

Thank you for your help and advice. I do want to do the right thing.

 

[BigDaddy'sGurl]

I wouldn't do anything, were it me. You did your part, and from my understanding, a lot of times blood rings can be caused by an unclean incubator environment. How are you to know if she was incubating correctly? She just wants a freebie.


If you really want to help her, ask her to pay the shipping to send the "dud" eggs back to you and when you receive them you will send her new eggs with you paying the shipping. That should be the deciding factor on whether or not she is being honest.

ETA: I had a whole incubator full of eggs develop blood rings before: the temp was too high and they perished. Makes you wonder if she has a hotspot in her incubator...

 

[KIDDSBANTAMS]

I understand as a seller you should always want to do the right thing, but also sometimes the buyer is at the mercy of the seller and believing what they tell them is the truth. I am that lady that bought the eggs from you and I would not drive 6 hours to get eggs and then lie about whether they are good or not. I love my chickens very much and I spend countless hours everyday tending to them. I am a very honest person and I would never say an egg was bad that was not. Out of a dozen eggs it is hard to have 6 bad were bad, like I said 1 or 2 is one thing but 6 was a lot to me. There was some that were clear , but most of them had a dark line through them. I have 2 brand new Brinsea Octagon 20 Advance incubators and I am beyond a clean person. They kept perfect temperature and I have checked it other thermometers to make sure. I am not a thief and I don't like someone saying I am not honest. If I had a way to candle and take pics of the eggs and what I see I will send the pics to show I am telling the truth. I believe someone that would drive 6 hours to get eggs is not in this to take advantage of someone. I will find a way to take pics of the candled eggs and show what I am seeing. I just never thought I would have 6 bad out of a dozen, since they were not shipped it did not seem normal to me. People should watch what they accuse others of, it is not nice.

 

[speckledhen]

Keep personal disputes off the forum, please.